Sarasota millionaire sailing on to Belize

Published: Wednesday, November 6, 2013 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, November 5, 2013 at 6:40 p.m.

SARASOTA - Harvey Vengroff, a self-made multimillionaire who moved to Southwest Florida 23 years ago so he could go sailing every day, is sailing on — to Belize.

Vengroff, the 72-year-old founder of one of the world's largest collection agencies, plans to sell a $75 million Southwest Florida property portfolio that he amassed after arriving in 1990. He is also making it possible for his real estate employees to acquire another $20 million worth of apartments on favorable terms.

Since he got here, Vengroff has been a colorful character who prefers casual clothes, rails against government bureaucrats and tends to do things his own way.

In the late 1990s, Barry Seidel of American Property Group of Sarasota sold Vengroff a vacant 400-seat restaurant on the North Tamiami Trail called Brenton Reef.

“I must have shown it 100 times,” Seidel said. “Here comes this guy, wearing shorts and boat shoes, and he is driving this giant old Cadillac. He looks at the building and says, 'I will pay a million for it.' ”

That restaurant became a Vengroff Williams & Associates office.

Vengroff liked the place's booths so much he kept one for a long time, using it as his desk even after he moved his company to larger quarters at what was once the Stottlemyer & Shoemaker Lumber Co. on Fruitville Road, west of Lime Avenue.

That 8-acre site is now on the market for $8 million. CapGemini of France, which bought part of Vengroff's business in 2011, is housed there, paying $300,000 per year in rent.

To keep the unsold parts and the sold parts separate, Vengroff renamed the collection agency that is still in the family as Vengroff Williams Inc.

That company, which employs more than 100 in this region, maintains larger offices in Long Island, N.Y.; Chicago and Orange County, Calif., collecting on commercial delinquent accounts for a large number of clients, including General Electric Co., Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc.

“We are not moving anybody out of Sarasota,” Vengroff told the Herald-Tribune. “We are just going to add new people in Belize, that's all.”

One of them will be Harvey Vengroff.

Moving on

Vengroff has already bought land to build a new home for himself and his wife, Carol, within a large, new development called Sanctuary Belize.

It is near the town of Placencia, a rustic but growing coastal town in South Belize.

Vengroff says he is purchasing a vacant, 3-story Caribbean-front hotel in Placencia, planning to convert at least one floor of it into a new office for Vengroff Williams.

He says he has been contemplating a major move for about a year.

In one way, Vengroff says, he is just ready for a new chapter in his life.

But he also portrays the move as his own personal protest to an America that he sees as becoming vastly over-regulated.

“For all the reasons that people came to America, we are leaving,” Vengroff said. “I love the United States and think it has been wonderful for me. I just think it is getting a little screwy.”

As an example, Vengroff said he routinely takes more than $10,000 in cash to deposit at a bank in Sarasota. Under current federal regulations covering large cash deposits, every time he goes through this process he must show his driver's license, give his Social Security number — and wait.

“They take 20 minutes to fill out the form every day, and it is the same guy coming in every day,” Vengroff said.

On a more personal level, Vengroff said he has been disappointed in the reception he has gotten from the City of Sarasota when he has asked for higher density rights on properties so that he could build rental apartments. Specifically, he has sought permission to build high-rise rental buildings at 2211 Fruitville Road, the close-in, 8-acre site now on the market for $8 million.

“If you want to build luxury condos you can get 200 per acre,” Vengroff said. “If you want to build affordable housing, you cannot get 50 per acre.”

Vengroff says he has empowered three agents to liquidate the roughly $75 million in real estate, most of it affordable housing.

The building where Vengroff now has an office was a closed bar near the entrance to the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus. He refitted the structure into University Row, 101 studio apartments that he rents for $575 per month including water and power.

“I don't think there was anybody who ever dedicated themselves more to affordable housing for the work force than Harvey,” said Kerry Kirschner, executive director of Argus Foundation, who in a former political life helped recruit Vengroff to Southwest Florida.

The hook

It was sailing that put Sarasota on Vengroff's mental map in the first place.

It was 1990, and he was back home on Long Island after a sailing vacation here when he answered an advertisement placed in a Long Island newspaper by the economic development arm of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce.

Kirschner, then Sarasota's mayor, flew to New York to make the pitch to Vengroff, along with longtime Sarasota Realtor Marcia Wood.

Vengroff, 50 at the time, told the duo that they did not need to tell him about Sarasota. He already had his boat docked on Longboat Key.

If they could find him an office close to his boat, he said, he would move. Wood found a building and Vengroff leased it.

While he has sold some properties as he bought others, Vengroff tends to be a buy-and-hold investor.

He is enabling his real estate staffers, many of whom have been with him for more than a decade, to acquire 21 apartment buildings worth roughly $20 million on favorable terms.

That is on top of the 650 residential units Vengroff now has on the market for $40 million.

“These are great properties in great locations,” said Andrew Haddad, a listing agent with Keller-Williams on the Water. “A third of the portfolio is right on 41.”

Nearly all of the apartments and houses are occupied and generating positive cash flow, Haddad said.

Vengroff's collection agency business started out rough-and-tumble, but gradually evolved into a sophisticated, digitally enabled service.

“Me and my dog started it, and then we got computers and got people who knew what they were doing,” Vengroff said. “They hit less but collect more.”

His nephew, Luke Jaeger, and son, Travis Vengroff, will continue to run the Sarasota operation.

Heading south

While Belize — with its beaches, reefs, jungles and waterfalls — is turning into a destination resort nation, it is still sparsely populated.

Formerly known as British Honduras, Belize has a population of about 320,000, or roughly half that of the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota metropolitan area.

Where Vengroff and his wife are headed in southern Belize, there are also few retail stores. His future neighborhood, Sanctuary Belize, features its own community organic garden, where residents can either work to earn a share of food for their family, or pay for it.

“It is not like you go to Publix and pick out your stuff,” Vengroff said. “If you want beef, they kill the cow for you.”

At the moment, the Vengroffs plan to make their move in January.

Carol Vengroff plans to fly down.

Harvey Vengroff intends to sail his 58-foot ketch “Lollipop” single-handedly to one of two new marinas, at Sanctuary Belize or at Placencia.

“Just keep Cuba on the left, Mexico on the right,” he said. “When you get to the great reef you make a right turn.”

<p><em>SARASOTA</em> - Harvey Vengroff, a self-made multimillionaire who moved to Southwest Florida 23 years ago so he could go sailing every day, is sailing on — to Belize. </p><p>Vengroff, the 72-year-old founder of one of the world's largest collection agencies, plans to sell a $75 million Southwest Florida property portfolio that he amassed after arriving in 1990. He is also making it possible for his real estate employees to acquire another $20 million worth of apartments on favorable terms.</p><p>Since he got here, Vengroff has been a colorful character who prefers casual clothes, rails against government bureaucrats and tends to do things his own way.</p><p>In the late 1990s, Barry Seidel of American Property Group of Sarasota sold Vengroff a vacant 400-seat restaurant on the North Tamiami Trail called Brenton Reef.</p><p>“I must have shown it 100 times,” Seidel said. “Here comes this guy, wearing shorts and boat shoes, and he is driving this giant old Cadillac. He looks at the building and says, 'I will pay a million for it.' ”</p><p>That restaurant became a Vengroff Williams & Associates office.</p><p>Vengroff liked the place's booths so much he kept one for a long time, using it as his desk even after he moved his company to larger quarters at what was once the Stottlemyer & Shoemaker Lumber Co. on Fruitville Road, west of Lime Avenue.</p><p>That 8-acre site is now on the market for $8 million. CapGemini of France, which bought part of Vengroff's business in 2011, is housed there, paying $300,000 per year in rent.</p><p>To keep the unsold parts and the sold parts separate, Vengroff renamed the collection agency that is still in the family as Vengroff Williams Inc.</p><p>That company, which employs more than 100 in this region, maintains larger offices in Long Island, N.Y.; Chicago and Orange County, Calif., collecting on commercial delinquent accounts for a large number of clients, including General Electric Co., Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc.</p><p>“We are not moving anybody out of Sarasota,” Vengroff told the Herald-Tribune. “We are just going to add new people in Belize, that's all.”</p><p>One of them will be Harvey Vengroff.</p><p><b>Moving on</b> </p><p>Vengroff has already bought land to build a new home for himself and his wife, Carol, within a large, new development called Sanctuary Belize. </p><p>It is near the town of Placencia, a rustic but growing coastal town in South Belize.</p><p>Vengroff says he is purchasing a vacant, 3-story Caribbean-front hotel in Placencia, planning to convert at least one floor of it into a new office for Vengroff Williams.</p><p>He says he has been contemplating a major move for about a year.</p><p>In one way, Vengroff says, he is just ready for a new chapter in his life.</p><p>But he also portrays the move as his own personal protest to an America that he sees as becoming vastly over-regulated.</p><p>“For all the reasons that people came to America, we are leaving,” Vengroff said. “I love the United States and think it has been wonderful for me. I just think it is getting a little screwy.”</p><p>As an example, Vengroff said he routinely takes more than $10,000 in cash to deposit at a bank in Sarasota. Under current federal regulations covering large cash deposits, every time he goes through this process he must show his driver's license, give his Social Security number — and wait.</p><p>“They take 20 minutes to fill out the form every day, and it is the same guy coming in every day,” Vengroff said.</p><p>On a more personal level, Vengroff said he has been disappointed in the reception he has gotten from the City of Sarasota when he has asked for higher density rights on properties so that he could build rental apartments. Specifically, he has sought permission to build high-rise rental buildings at 2211 Fruitville Road, the close-in, 8-acre site now on the market for $8 million.</p><p>“If you want to build luxury condos you can get 200 per acre,” Vengroff said. “If you want to build affordable housing, you cannot get 50 per acre.”</p><p>Vengroff says he has empowered three agents to liquidate the roughly $75 million in real estate, most of it affordable housing.</p><p>The building where Vengroff now has an office was a closed bar near the entrance to the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus. He refitted the structure into University Row, 101 studio apartments that he rents for $575 per month including water and power.</p><p>“I don't think there was anybody who ever dedicated themselves more to affordable housing for the work force than Harvey,” said Kerry Kirschner, executive director of Argus Foundation, who in a former political life helped recruit Vengroff to Southwest Florida.</p><p><b>The hook</b> </p><p>It was sailing that put Sarasota on Vengroff's mental map in the first place. </p><p>It was 1990, and he was back home on Long Island after a sailing vacation here when he answered an advertisement placed in a Long Island newspaper by the economic development arm of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce.</p><p>Kirschner, then Sarasota's mayor, flew to New York to make the pitch to Vengroff, along with longtime Sarasota Realtor Marcia Wood.</p><p>Vengroff, 50 at the time, told the duo that they did not need to tell him about Sarasota. He already had his boat docked on Longboat Key.</p><p>If they could find him an office close to his boat, he said, he would move. Wood found a building and Vengroff leased it.</p><p>While he has sold some properties as he bought others, Vengroff tends to be a buy-and-hold investor. </p><p>He is enabling his real estate staffers, many of whom have been with him for more than a decade, to acquire 21 apartment buildings worth roughly $20 million on favorable terms.</p><p>That is on top of the 650 residential units Vengroff now has on the market for $40 million.</p><p>“These are great properties in great locations,” said Andrew Haddad, a listing agent with Keller-Williams on the Water. “A third of the portfolio is right on 41.”</p><p>Nearly all of the apartments and houses are occupied and generating positive cash flow, Haddad said.</p><p>Vengroff's collection agency business started out rough-and-tumble, but gradually evolved into a sophisticated, digitally enabled service.</p><p>“Me and my dog started it, and then we got computers and got people who knew what they were doing,” Vengroff said. “They hit less but collect more.”</p><p>His nephew, Luke Jaeger, and son, Travis Vengroff, will continue to run the Sarasota operation.</p><p><b>Heading south</b> </p><p>While Belize — with its beaches, reefs, jungles and waterfalls — is turning into a destination resort nation, it is still sparsely populated. </p><p>Formerly known as British Honduras, Belize has a population of about 320,000, or roughly half that of the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota metropolitan area.</p><p>Where Vengroff and his wife are headed in southern Belize, there are also few retail stores. His future neighborhood, Sanctuary Belize, features its own community organic garden, where residents can either work to earn a share of food for their family, or pay for it.</p><p>“It is not like you go to Publix and pick out your stuff,” Vengroff said. “If you want beef, they kill the cow for you.”</p><p>At the moment, the Vengroffs plan to make their move in January.</p><p>Carol Vengroff plans to fly down.</p><p>Harvey Vengroff intends to sail his 58-foot ketch “Lollipop” single-handedly to one of two new marinas, at Sanctuary Belize or at Placencia.</p><p>“Just keep Cuba on the left, Mexico on the right,” he said. “When you get to the great reef you make a right turn.”</p>